By Zeke Barlow – Virginia Tech
Feeling run down and need a place to recharge, but not sure where to go? Wanting a place that only serves local coffee where you can look at paintings from local artists? Interested in renting an e-scooter to explore the creative district of a city?
Imagine how helpful it would be to have a travel-savvy friend at our fingertips to help plan and guide these travel excursions in real time based on your emotions.
Now, there is no need to imagine because generative artificial intelligence (AI) can do just that, business Professor Juan Luis Nicolau says.
Nicolau recently defined this relationship between traveler and generative AI in in the Journal of Smart Tourism. He says generative AI serves as a cognitive layer that can interpret the mood or energy of a traveler and personalize a response in real time.
“Tourism products are experiences,” says Nicolau, the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Professor of Revenue Management. “That means our friend, generative AI, is going to imagine with us, feel with us, sense our mood, and ultimately anticipate what we need and want to do. The result is co-created experiences tailored to the individual.”
For travelers, AI can be used before, during, and after the trip. By using an AI website or a smartphone app, the ability to create a personalized experience is accessible by everyone. Before the trip, travelers can plan their trip and explore multiple options. While they are actively on their trip, they can take those multiple options and work with AI to decide which is best for them in real-time. After, they can use their AI friend to help generate an online review for future travelers to reference in their planning.
If a traveler is conversing with generative AI about going on a hike or visiting a local coffee shop while on their vacation, the program can suggest a hike if it is prompted with high energy. For this to happen, a traveler could say, “I am feeling energized and want to explore today. What are some outdoor activities popular in this area?”
This also can happen with low energy prompts and may lead to the suggestion of a coffee instead of a hike. A prompt could say, “I hiked yesterday and am feeling tired today. What are some leisurely activities popular in this area?
To better understand the dynamic between tourists and generative AI, Nicolau identified eight key tourism business research areas and how they are impacted by 15 thematic topics that represent the core function of generative AI in tourism.
One of the research areas is consumer behavior and how slow travel and mindful tourism is gaining traction among travelers. While it may be seen as an oxymoron to use a new supercomputing power to slow down, Nicolau says generative AI can act as a mindfulness facilitator and recommend experiences that encourage travelers to engage with their surroundings in more intentional ways. For example, visiting a local coffee shop instead of a chain.
The other seven research areas cover supply, disruptors, sustainability, ethics, performance, product, and demand.
Unlike earlier versions of AI, Nicolau says generative AI simulates human-like reasoning and content creation. Where its predecessors provided logic-based answers or automation services, generative AI has the power to co-create, engage emotionally, and dynamically provide tourism insights.
While generative AI can provide benefits for travelers, Nicolau also notes the cautions it carries.
“We have to be conscious of what information we are putting into AI,” Nicolau says. “It is an ethical issue because if we are providing too much, it may be risky since some entities will have information about our emotions. These issues still have to be solved. That is something that we, as users and as consumers, need to be careful of.”
As generative AI is further integrating into the tourism ecosystem, Nicolau underscores the importance of travelers to be mindful of both the possibilities and privacy concerns.
Source: Virginia Tech
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This post was previously published on FUTURITY.ORG and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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